The road from Mont Pèlerin : the making of the neoliberal thought collective /

The title, a play on Hayek's Road to Serfdom (1944), refers to the Mont Pelerin Society, another Hayek effort to rally the forces of economic liberalism against the rising tide of governmental encroachment during the Great Depression and WW II. Formed in 1947, the society gathered an array of influential free market intellectuals dedicated to the restoration of economic liberalism in the postwar era. The papers in this collection, derived from a 2005 conference with some versions previously published, are intended to make the case that the society represented a core of like-minded individuals--a "thought collective"--whose common pursuits have profoundly influenced modern economic theory and practice. The use of "neoliberalism," often considered a pejorative, to characterize this revival of liberalism accurately reflects the critical stance taken by most of the collection's papers. Contributions in the first section review the international origins of neoliberalism, with wide variations in historical perspective: Britain's survey spans two centuries, America's is limited to the rise of Chicago School economics. The middle section contends with evolving neoliberal policy positions. The final papers offer case studies on applied neoliberalism. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate and research collections. R. S. Hewett Drake University